Writers-on-Wednesday: Deanna Nowadnick

I love meeting other writers and hearing their stories about writing, so I'm happy to introduce you to Deanna Nowadnick today.  Deanna recently released her first book, Fruit of My Spirit, a memoir "of missteps and misdeeds." 

How did you become a writer?
I didn’t plan to be a writer. Even though I majored in English in college, I never enjoyed writing assignments. I actually think it had more to do with being told what to write, rather than the writing itself.  

Fruit of My Spirit is my first book. I really didn’t intend to write a book. I just wanted my sons Kyle and Kevin to know how I met their father, but one chapter became two chapters and then two chapter became three… Finally I said to anyone who would listen, “I think I wrote a book!”

Before she died, my mom had asked me to write a book. At the time my boys were very small and the notion of writing was unfathomable. I couldn’t get a grocery list put together! Before my father died, he reminded me that mom had wanted me to write a book. At the time the boys were in college, and the notion of writing was unfathomable.

Writers write books. Last year I wrote a book. My boys were now adults and I’d run out of excuses. I was also at that age when I could pause and reflect.

What inspires  you to write?
I love telling stories. The writing experience has reaffirmed for me the importance of all of us telling our stories. I am most inspired to think that my book may encourage others to tell their own stories.

I have to admit that divine gratitude gave way to sheer joy and excitement when I held the first copy of my book. I carried it with me from room to room. I thumbed the pages. I learned that there is nothing as cathartic as sharing our experiences in writing. Words, sentences, and paragraphs give order and meaning to so many things that thrown into our mental box of memories. Shared experiences and the retelling of our shared experiences also give life depth and meaning. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the sound bites of the day. More important are our individual experiences, those unique to us and those we’ve had the joy of sharing with others. Unless we share that uniqueness, others will define us, and it’s those definitions that can ultimately divide.

Who is your favorite author and why?
I have many authors who inspire, encourage, and entertain me.

Anne Lamott gave me the courage to write and to keep writing.

Jane Austen warms my heart. 

Beth Moore feeds my soul and nurtures my faith.

Steig Larsson wow’s me.

And honorable mention has to go to Carolyn Keene who gave a young girl her first real love of reading. In third grade I really just wanted to grow up and be Nancy Drew.

To find out more about Deanna and her book, drop by her website or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Win a $100 Amazon Gift Card!

Amber of Beautifully BellaFaith and over 160 other bloggers have put together an awesome gift card giveaway for everyone to enter. One lucky person WIN a $100 Amazon gift card PLUS a $50 Victoria's Secret gift card AND a $50 Target OR Walmart gift card. 

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Enter below using the Rafflecopter widget. If you have any problems, please email Amber. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before another will be drawn. You do NOT have to be a blogger to enter OR win. Good luck!!

Book Review: Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

Bringing Up Girls: Practical Advice and Encouragement for Those Shaping the Next Generation of Women is Dr. James Dobson's long-awaited companion book to Bringing Up Boys.

As the mother of two girls, I jumped on the opportunity to review this book.  Though I haven't actually read many of Dr. Dobson's books, I grew up listening to Adventures in Odyssey and reading most of the magazines published by Focus on the Family.  As an adult, I've come to appreciate the advice provided through Focus on the Family's website and e-newsletters.

 In the first chapter, Dr. Dobson shares that the title of this book "assumes that parents have the responsibility of not simply overseeing the growth and development of their girls (and boys) but of raising them purposely—building into them certain qualities and traits of character."  From his own experience as a dad, his in-depth research, and stories shared by other dads and daughters, Dr. Dobson provides parents with helpful advice for bringing up girls in today's culture.

Dr. Dobson talks about how today's girls are in peril.  He shares statistics about eating disorders, suicide, cutting, sexual promiscuity, alcohol, drugs, bullying and other harmful activities.  He talks about the message that our girls are receiving from the media, from pop stars and movie stars.  He exposes the dark side of the sexual and social revolution that swept the Western world in the 60s and 70s.  He paints a dark picture of today's culture, yet also gives parents hope for leading their girls through these times.

Dr. Dobson devotes several chapters to fathers and the important influence they have on their daughters—for good or bad.  He talks about the princess movement (and believes the good outweighs the bad there), chastity bracelets and Purity Balls.  He answers parents' questions about single parents, childcare, co-ed sports and more.  He includes information from other parenting experts, including Meg Meeker and Wendy Shalit, as well as interviews with college-age girls about their lives and parents.

While Dr. Dobson approaches the topic from a Christian worldview, I believe his book is applicable to any parents of young girls.  Most of the research and data that he discusses in the book has been done by national or government organizations.  He raises issues that should concern our entire society.  I found myself shaking my head at how clearly all the modern-day research supports principles God put in place when He created this world.

Dr. Dobson packs a lot into this book.  I didn't even tackle the section on adolescence, because we've got a few years before that hits us.  :)  If you have daughters of any age, I highly recommend you read this book.

      

Love Stories Blog Party

Five years ago today, I walked into a church wearing a white dress, looking for the guy I'd had a crush on for the past five years.  Yes, I was ready for our wedding before he was, but that's not the story I want to tell today.  Today, to celebrate our five-year anniversary, I'd like to share our love story and to invite YOU to share yours too.  Welcome to my very first linky party!

For my first class at university—Religion 150, a required course at the small Lutheran university I attended—I picked a seat halfway to the back, in the middle of the room.  As I sat there waiting for class to start, I watched the other students file in and hoped hoped hoped that some of them would soon become my friends.

A guy on the right side of the room, towards the front, caught my eye.  He had curly black hair and a full beard (rare among the other 18-year-old guys at uni) and a khaki rucksack over his shoulder, with a battered green thermos sticking out of the corner.

I was eighteen years old.  Shy.  Uncertain.  Trying to navigate the "huge" university campus and feeling very alone in the "crowds" of students.  (There's a reason I picked a small university.)  On the second day of Religion 150, I noticed that the bearded guy was now sitting in front of me.

After class, he turned around to talk to me, further earning my respect.  (I was too shy to start a conversation with anyone.)  He'd noticed the cross around my neck—a copper medallion with a Jerusalem cross that I'd received when I was confirmed four years earlier in a Lutheran church.  He mentioned he was Catholic.

A few days later, as I sat in the Glass Lounge reading between classes, he came and joined me.  We chatted about the paper we had to write for Religion 150—ours was the only class that had to write a paper and, since it was my first university paper, I was a bit stressed.  I had a vague idea of what I wanted to say, and talking with him helped me form a more concrete idea.

I soon made friends with two other girls in our Religion 150 class (who also had other classes with me) and often studied with them.  One of the girls rode to uni with her dad, just like I did, so we'd read in the Glass Lounge or study in the library until our class started at 11:00.  This guy soon found our library study spot and began joining us after his class.  Studying turned into teasing and talking and debates about our faith.

One afternoon, our Religion 150 class got cancelled.  A bunch of us joked about going to a movie instead.  When the day came, however, one after another backed out, saying they had to study or write papers.  That left just my guy friend and me.  We drove his truck over to the local dollar theatre to see Peter Pan and he spent the entire movie teasing me about kissing.  I knew he liked me.  I knew I liked him.  But neither of us was ready to start dating, so we tried to hide it.

In second year, we ended up in Canadian Literature together.  I thought it was by accident; I later found out he'd planned it, since he had to take another English class and I was an English major.  He encouraged me to speak up in class and I started to contribute more to class discussions.  We continued to hang out after class, and continued to tell our friends we were "just friends."  Some days, his teasing drove me nuts and I was really glad we were "just friends."

In third year, he transferred to another university.  A couple times a semester, he'd call me up and we'd go out for coffee.  We also had subscriptions to the local theatre; I'd show up with a girlfriend and he would too.  I found myself jealous of those girls, wondering if he was finally dating someone or if they were also "just friends" with him, like I was.

At the end of my third year of university, I decided to go to Australia.  When he called me for a coffee date, I said I was planning my trip and had no time to go out.  He insisted.  I told him I had an hour on this day and I could meet him here.  He said he'd be there.  I wondered a bit at his insistence to see me, but I was preoccupied with my upcoming adventure.

Halfway through my trip, I sent him a one-line email asking a question about football—some American tourists I'd met had never heard of the Saskatchewan Roughriders or Edmonton Eskimos.  He answered my email, I answered his, etc.

In Alice Springs, I was lonely and looking forward to my days off when I could walk to the library and check for emails from home.  I laughed over every email from this guy, and then deleted them—trying not to encourage my crush, since he was still "just a friend."  In one email, he said  he should take me to a football game when I got back, since I knew nothing about football.  Oh, and did I want to split a 6-pack of theatre tickets with him?  (Neither of us had renewed our subscription because we didn't like the new lineup of plays.)  I said yes.  Then I freaked out—I'd just agreed to four dates with a guy who was "just a friend."  Uh huh.

He called me two days after I got home from Australia.  We went out for coffee that week.  Then the next week.  I stood in the pouring rain to watch him play rugby.  We saw a football game.  A few plays.  A few movies.  I started attending Mass at a local Catholic Church.  All my friends were smiling when I said I'd gone out with him again.  I was going crazy over whether we were "just friends" or now dating—desperate for him to say something but not wanting to bring it up myself.  Finally, on Remembrance Day, we had a very long date and a very long talk and made it official.

Seven months later, he proposed.  Eleven months later, we got married.  Five years later, we're back in university again and have two little girls and still like going to plays together.

Now... it's YOUR turn.  Share your love story and link up here.  (If you've already posted your love story on your blog, feel free to link an old post.  If you haven't, now is a great time to share it!)

Rules:
- Follow me, please.  (See my blog sidebar).
- Include a link back to my blog, with the party button.
- Please comment on at least two other blogs.
- Have fun!  :)

My thanks to Audra at Rediscovering Domesticity for her tutorial on How to Create a Link-Up.

I'm a Guest at the Young Wife's Guide!

Today I'm delighted to be a guest at Young Wife's Guide. Jami is running a series on love stories for young wives.  She says, "I can feel alone sometimes as a young wife. Most in our society today do not get married young and young marriage is often looked down upon."  Jami was 19 when she got married and she recently celebrated her third anniversary; she and her husband are now expecting their first child.

She writes her blog to support other young wives.  She offers a free eBook on apartment gardening and says, "I have a heart for hospitality and for seeing women grow in the Lord."

I wrote about God's perfect timing in bringing my husband and I together.  Head on over to read our story and check out Jami's blog.

Inter-Varsity Camp Contests

Summer camp makes me think of laughter.  The happy, squealing laughter of children having a lot of fun.  I've been to family camps twice—once with my parents, when my mom was invited to be the waterfront director for our local Christian camp, and once with my husband just after Sunshine was born—and loved every minute of them.  Who doesn't want the chance to get away for a holiday with lots of fun activities and new friends?

This year, Circle Square Ranch is running a huge contest for future campers:

Visiting their website makes me wish Sunshine was old enough to take advantage of this opportunity.  I'll be bookmarking Circle Square Ranch for the year when she is old enough to do an overnight camp.

Or maybe we could just go to the family camp at Pioneer Camp, which is also hosting a huge summer contest:

Both contests are open to Canadians (excluding Quebec) and end June 15, 2012.  Just by entering, you'll be able to download coupons to some great sponsors, including Mabel's Labels and discounts off camps for first-timers.

Have you sent your children to a kids camp or Christian camp in the past?  Did you grow up going to summer camps?

This is a sponsored blog post, but all opinions expressed are my own.  I'd love to win a free week of camp!

New iPad Giveaway!

Mom to Bed by 8, the Iowa Mom, is hosting an iPad3 giveaway, sponsored by BeeSavy.  The giveaway runs from July 1-15.

This is a free blogger event, open to bloggers worldwide, and now accepting signups.  If you are a blogger, drop by the sign-up page for more information.  (If you sign up, please mention my name!)

If you want to win the iPad, just come back here in July to enter the giveaway.  (Non-US residents will receive cash equivalent of the iPad.)  Good luck!

CD Review: A Place to Belong by Lisa Troyer

For past several weeks, Lisa Troyer's new CD A Place to Belong has been playing in my Jeep.  The girls usually ask for their "little girl song" while we're driving, but I've been telling them it's Mommy's turn.  Troyer's CD has provided many moments of peace and encouragement as I run errands through the city.

Often in the past, I've turned to music in times of turmoil or dryness.  Sometimes music can speak to a place that nothing else can, as Troyer knows.  “This CD was birthed out of the knowledge that music is so often used by God to solidify a written and/or spoken message,” says Troyer. “Dawn Yoder and I have been blessed by the friendship and songwriting partnership God’s given us, and songs like ‘Let Us Bow Down,’ ‘Lifting My Praise Up’ and ‘I Found Grace’ (Circle of Friends theme song) are reflective of how, by finding a place to belong, we are inspired to share encouragement, while keeping our focusing on worshiping in ‘Spirit and in truth.’”

Troyer sings of God's love for us and our worship for him.  Her songs had me tapping my foot or raising my hand in worship.  I enjoyed the instrumentals, the way each song gave me a chance to think about the lyrics and feel them as well as hear them. My favourite songs were "I Found Grace," about the roads we all travel and the friends who come along with us, and "Love Falls Down," which speaks of God's work in our lives, including sending "peace to calm us" and "cause our hearts to dance."

Lisa Troyer is the president of Circle of Friends ministry and the author of A Place to Belong: Out of Our Comfort Zone and Into God's Adventure (the companion book to this CD).  You can find out more about Lisa on her website or at A Place to Belong (where you can download several songs for free).  The new Circle of Friends CD is available online at Lifeway Worship and iTunes. It can also be purchased through your local Christian retailer.

This CD was provided for review courtesy of the B&B Media Group; all opinions expressed are my own.

May: The Month of Mary

One of the Bible lessons I distinctly remember from my childhood was about the Virgin Mary.  My family attended a Lutheran church, but our homeschool curriculum was published by a Baptist denomination in the States.  In this particular lesson, our workbook outlined what the Catholic Church believed about Mary and why those beliefs were wrong.

When I started dating my husband, I also started attending Mass and reading the Catholic Catechism.  That old lesson stuck in my head; I had big questions about what the Church teaches about Mary.  I expected we'd have some major debates about this, that this issue might be the breaking point in our relationship.  My mom even told me, at one point, "Don't date that guy.  He's Catholic and Catholics worship Mary."

For some reason, I wanted to find out more.  So I kept reading the Catechism.  I found myself agreeing with what I read.  It made sense to me.  Even when I hit the Mary sections.  Since the month of May is dedicated to Mary in the Catholic Church, I thought I'd take a few minutes to explain some of what I've learned about her.

Catholics don't pray to Mary.  We ask Mary to pray for us, just as I've often asked other friends to pray for me.  We believe Mary (and the saints) can hear our requests and intercede for us to Christ.  Yes, I can also pray to Christ myself, but sometimes it's nice to know that others are praying for me.  I found this particularly true during my pregnancies, when I realized that Mary, in carrying Jesus in her womb and raising him, knew what I was going through as a mom.

We believe that Mary was assumed bodily into heaven at the end of her earthly life.  At first, I didn't like this idea because it seemed to make Mary equal with Jesus.  However, while Jesus ascended into heaven (His action), Mary was taken up into heaven (also Jesus' action).  Also, the Old Testament has other examples of men who were taken into heaven as a sign of God's favour—Enoch was said to "walk with God" and Elijah rode up to heaven in a chariot of fire.  There's also a long tradition of respect for saint's relics, but no one has ever claimed to have Mary's body (there's probably a reason God took her into heaven).

We also believe that Mary was ever virgin.  Saint Augustine says she "remained a virgin in conceiving her son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin."  The Compendium of the Catechism explains that "when the Gospels speak of the 'brothers and sisters of Jesus,' they are talking about the close relations of Jesus."  The doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity appeared very early in the Church, so I'm willing to accept the witness of the early church fathers and the teachings of the Church.

The Compendium also says that in Jesus, Mary's "spiritual motherhood extended to all whom he came to save... [she is] the true mother of all the living, who with a mother's love cooperates in their birth and their formation in the order of grace.  Virgin and Mother, Mary is the figure of the Church, its most perfect realization."  Thus I honour Mary not only as Jesus' mother, but as my mother as well.

Most of all, I look to Mary as the perfect example of what a Christian should be.  She was the first one to say "yes" to Jesus, to give herself totally to him.  She was there at his birth and there at his death.  She continually points us to him.  Even in the rosary, as we ask Mary to pray for us, we reflect upon the mysteries of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.  Mary is thus honoured in the Church because she is our example, our intercessor, our mother.

Two excellent books about Mary are Scott Hahn's book Hail, Holy Queen and Mary—A Catholic-Evangelical Debate by Dwight Longenecker and David Gustafson.  For moms, Catherine Hickem has written a devotional-style book about Mary called Heaven in Her Arms which I'll be reviewing soon.

Explore: Hatley Castle and Gardens

Last Sunday, we took advantage of the annual Mother's Day festivities at Hatley Castle to tour the gardens and mansion.  I took over fifty pictures during the afternoon (and only stopped because my camera card was full), so it was hard picking just a few highlights.  We might have to make the Castle a Mother's Day tradition.

We wandered around the main floor the castle (the upstairs was mostly closed) and then the girls played outside in the "maze" while I joined a guided tour (they haven't yet acquired my interest in history).  Hatley Castle was built in 1908 by James Dunsmuir, who wanted it to look like an old English estate.  In 1940, after the family had all passed away, the property was bought by the Canadian government.  From 1941-1995, it served as a military college; now, the castle and surrounding facilities are part of Royal Roads University.

For Mother's Day, the grounds were busy with vendors, bands, clowns, and children's activities.  Lily made bath salts for me while Sunshine watched a clown.  Then Lily blew bubbles with giant wands while Sunshine strung beads on a necklace.  Sunshine would have returned to watch the clown, but we convinced her to tour the gardens instead. 

I was amazed at how big the gardens are.  It seemed that every corner we turned, there was another gate to another part of the gardens.  The rose garden wasn't yet in bloom, but the other parts of the garden more than made up for that.  There were a few gazebos to sit in, a water wheel, a fish ladder, two lakes, a large greenhouse (locked to the public), and flowers everywhere.  The girls enjoyed running down the paths.

My advice for being a tourist in your own hometown (and saving money while doing so)?  Watch for festivals like this one that offer free or discounted admission or sign up for sites such as Groupon that offer daily deals (you just have to watch for the deal you want).

I'm linking up with Frugal Fridays and This or That Thursday for this post.

Book Review: Loving Well by William P. Smith

Loving Well (Even If You Haven't Been) is a relationship handbook.  In it, William P. Smith shows the importance of loving well in all of our relationships—whether as spouses, siblings, parents, children, or friends.  This is not just a marriage or a parenting book, but a book about loving those whom God has placed in our lives.

Smith shares how our relationships with others should stem from our relationships with God.  He says, "If I live knowing that God moves toward me all day long and invites me to move toward him, then I will engage people positively in their lives.  But if I wait for others to give themselves to me first, then I show that I really don't believe or regularly experience this God who is reconciling people to himself."

That way of looking at relationships really made me think.  The Catholic Church teaches that marriage—a man and a woman in relationship with each other and with God—is a reflection of God's Trinitarian relationship, but I never thought of applying that image to all my relationships.  Smith's analogies gave me a deeper appreciation of my relationship with God as well as how I can live that relationship to those around me.

In the chapter on "Communicating Love," Smith shows how conversation becomes a means of loving each other.  In fact, conversation is "a primary tool that God uses to love us."  Again, this was a new idea for me.  Smith explains that God "spoke when humans first abandoned him.  He continued speaking when they wanted nothing to do with him.  Thankfully, instead of growing silent, he became more vocal over time, until in these last day he has spoken to us by his Son."  Just as God uses his conversations to love us, so we can use our conversations to love others.

Loving Well is broken into three parts: Love that Responds to a Broken World, Love that Reaches Out to Build Others Up, and Love that Enjoys Heaven on Earth.  In each section, Smith uses Scriptures and personal examples to show how we can love those around us as God loves us.  Each chapter concludes with a section titled "On Your Own," with questions to help in applying what you've read.

I enjoyed Smith's transparent honesty and deep reflection on this topic, and found Loving Well easy to read yet very thought-provoking.  For more about William P. Smith, check out his website.

This book was provided for review courtesy of The B&B Media Group.

Encouraging Children to Eat Vegetables

Sunshine would live on peanut butter and honey sandwiches and crackers with cheese if I let her.  Most of her other favourite snacks are grain-based.  Lately, I've been cutting back on those snacks and encouraging her to eat more fruits.  But vegetables?  Neither of my daughters is a huge fan of vegetables (although Lily will happily munch on broccoli with me).

A few weeks ago, both girls were having a picnic outside with a friend.  He's vegan, so he eats different foods than we do.  I watched, amazed, as the girls sampled his vegetable snacks and then begged for more.  I joked with his mom that we'd have to have more picnic playdates so I could get my daughters eating better.

That is the idea behind CopyKids Eat Fruits and Vegetables. Founder Cai Dixon noticed her daughter also copied what other kids ate and was more willing to try new foods if she saw other kids eating them.  Children learn from other children.  With CopyKids, children watch other children eating twelve fruits and vegetables—and enjoying what they eat.

My daughters watched several segments of the video before I offered them a carrot while they were watching.  Because the girl on the DVD had a large carrot (as well as several smaller carrot sticks), Sunshine wanted a "big" carrot.  I complied.  Up until now, neither of them has been interested in carrots and I haven't pushed it, because carrots are crunchy with few teeth.  Sunshine has since asked for carrots again, though Lily still prefers broccoli.

The children's performances are "unscripted and quirky, with children behaving authentically."  While my daughters (ages 4 and 2) enjoyed watching the children eat, I soon got bored.  However, the DVD has no "play all" button; each vegetable clip is seven minutes long and a parent (or older child) must start the clips.

I could see this working well for a teaching situation (e.g., "Let's watch a video about cucumbers and then colour a picture of cucumbers and then have a snack of cucumbers").  Sunshine liked the introduction to each children; she'd say, "That's Bella" or "That's Mani" and comment on what each child was eating.

The video is targeted at children 6 months to 6 years—the ages at which they are learning to eat and trying new foods, and often particular about what they eat.  The DVD also includes an interview with Dr. Jay Gordon on the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables.  CopyKids has won the Dr. Toy award and the MACT Award.  You can also find CopyKids on Facebook and Twitter.

How do you encourage your children to eat healthy snacks and try new foods?  What is your child's favourite fruit or vegetable?  Leave a comment here for your chance to WIN a copy of the CopyKids DVD!

I'm linking up with the Mom Blog Monday Blog Hop and Mommy Mondays Link-Up for this post.

Cleaning House with Children

A few weeks ago, I watched Mary Poppins with my daughters.  They thoroughly enjoyed the singing and dancing and I once again enjoyed Dick van Dyke's British accent and soot-coated smile.  One scene that caught my particular attention was when Mary helps the kids clean up their room:



I smiled as I thought of trying to motivate my daughters (a bit younger than the Banks children, but equally reluctant to clean up) to put away toys.  I've wished many times that I could just snap my fingers like Mary does and have all the clothes and toys spring into place, but that doesn't happen.  Instead, I've found these ways to turn cleaning up into a more enjoyable activity.

1. The Job's a Game

I often try to make cleaning up sound more exciting.  Tone of voice often helps.  Other times I suggest games, such as "Who can clean up the most?" or "Who can clean up the fastest?"  Lots of cheering helps with this and the girls aren't as unevenly matched as you'd think; Lily often gets into these "games" more quickly than Sunshine and does a bigger share of the work even though she's smaller.

2. Helping Mommy

When I'm vacuuming or sweeping, the girls want to help out.  This frustrated me when Sunshine was small, until I finally went searching for a broom for her.  Then when she wanted to sweep with me, she could get out her own broom and sweep her own section of the floor (usually a part I'd already swept, which wouldn't interfere with my own sweeping).  Now, the girls have a vacuum as well (and if they fight over that, one gets to use my small handheld vacuum) so that they can "help" when I'm vacuuming.

3.  Find a Job

When I'm cleaning our bathroom, both girls are usually in it with me, trying to do what I'm doing (particularly when it's time to scrub the toilet with the brush).  Instead of trying to keep them out, I give them jobs to do.  Each gets a small, damp rag and then I send them off to wash walls or the bathtub toys or something in their room.  And they have to take turns scrubbing the toilet.  :)

Now if only I could sing like Mary Poppins...

In every job that must be done

there is an element of fun

You find the fun, and snap!

the job’s a game!

and every task you undertake

becomes a piece a cake

a lark, a spree

it’s very clear to see

that a spoonful of sugar...

How do you manage cleaning with children?

I'm linking up with the Mom Blog Monday Blog Hop and Mommy Mondays Link-Up for this post.

Sappho's Words

I imagine Sappho sitting in a sunny room, her hair braided around her head like statues of Greek goddesses and her white robes falling gracefully about her slender frame. Her window overlooks the sparkling blue ocean around Lesbos and a shaft of sunlight brightens the parchment paper spread across her desk.

Perhaps she pauses to watch the servants in the courtyard below performing their chores before she turns back to her writing. Her thoughts are far away in Sardis with her friend Anactoria. She dips her quill in the ink and moves it across the parchment:

To an Army Wife, in Sardis

Some say a cavalry corps, 

some infantry, some, again, 

will maintain that the swift oars 

of our fleet are the finest 

sight on dark earth; but I say 

that whatever one loves, is. 

This is easily proved; did 

not Helen—she who had scanned 

the flower of the world's manhood— 

choose as first among men one 

who laid Troy's honor to ruin? 

warped to his will, forgetting 

love due her own blood, her own 

child, she wandered far with him. 

So Anactoria, though you 

being far away forget us, 

the dear sound of your footstep 

and light glancing in your eyes 

would move me more than glitter 

of Lydian horse or armored 

tread of mainland infantry 

Perhaps, when she rolls the parchment up, she will send it by swift-footed messenger to Anactoria in Sardis.  Perhaps it will be places on a shelf with the other parchments she has entrusted her poetry to.  Perhaps it will be shared at a festival or sung at a great banquet, memorized by the bards to be spread throughout Greece for the enjoyment of Sappho's many fans.

We don't know for sure.  What struck me most about what I learned of Sappho during my recent course in Greek mythology was what we don't know about her.  She lived in Greece from about 630-570 BC, was likely married and had a daughter, and wrote a great amount of poetry.  She is the only female poet whose work from that era has survived to this day, so scholars don't know if she was really the only female poet of that time or if hers is simply the only works to survive.

Most of Sappho's poetry, our professor told us, exists in fragments.  We have the eyewitness account of a monk who saw the last of Sappho's books destroyed by fire during the Byzantine era.  One of her poems was found wrapped around a mummified crocodile.  Others are on bits of pottery or vases.

Something about Sappho's story and her poetry intrigue me.  I keep turning back to this poem, marveling at how much she conveys in a few lines.  Maybe one of the things that most interests me is the fact that Sappho is the lone female voice in the Greek writers we know today.  One blogger recently commented on the huge growth of mommy bloggers, how this century has seen women writing down their everyday lives in a way that no other century has seen.

While I don't really expect anyone in two thousand plus years to be reading mommy blogs, I doubt that Sappho expected anyone would be reading her poetry more than twenty centuries after she wrote it either.  I guess what haunts me most about Sappho is the ability of her words to span time, culture and geography to still connect two women.

Explore: Sombrio Beach

The sultry voices of the Ladies of the Canyon filled the Jeep as I slid my foot from the gas to the brake to enter another curve.  Tall evergreens crowded close to the road, moss coating the rocks and logs between the trees.  I pressed my foot to the gas as we came out of the curve, pushing the odometer just past 70—as fast as the windy road would allow.  On the map, this road was marked as a "secondary highway," which always made me compare it to secondary highways in Alberta and laugh.

It was Wednesday afternoon and we were en route to Sombrio Beach, just a couple hours south of Victoria.  In front of us, Sunshine rode with her five-year-old friend and her dad (our neighbours) in a black Toyota 4Runner.  Behind me, Lily was fast asleep—she'd crashed within twenty minutes of driving.  Beside me, my husband was trying to catch up on some fun reading before he started classes again on Monday.  Other than the Ladies of the Canyon, the Jeep was silent, and I was basking in that—and the fun of driving a windy road through a forest.

I waffled back and forth about this trip for most of a week, thinking about the work involved in camping—packing, unpacking, cleaning, organizing.  On Tuesday, the girls had a bad night and I woke up with a bad cold.  The prospect of another sleepless night in a tent wasn't appealing.

But at 11 am, I found myself flying around our house, filling fuel bottles for the stove and debating whose backpack we should stuff all the gear into.  (My husband's, of course; I had to carry Lily.)  By 1 pm, we were on the road, despite the fact that Sunshine wasn't her usual energetic, happy self.  She hadn't thrown up, and she didn't want to cancel the trip, so I said go for it.

At Sombrio Beach, we hiked our gear the ten minutes down the hill from the parking lot to the beach.  Then I waited with the three girls while their daddies went to look for a place to pitch camp.  A group of tents already occupied the grassy space above the beach that our neighbour had been thinking of.  A man in a black wetsuit bobbed on a surfboard in the grey water, making me shiver just watching him.

When the men returned, we carted our gear over to the clearing they'd found—just around the corner from the outhouse and the food cache, behind a couple trees, and just up from the beach.  We set up our tents (avoiding the swampiest part of the clearing) and then headed back to the beach to make a fire.  Our neighbour is an ex-smoke jumper from northern BC, so he managed to turn some dry moss and pieces of drift wood into a crackling fire.  I made Kraft dinner on our camp stove and we ate, then stashed our things behind a log and went exploring.

Sunshine still had little energy, but wanted to follow her friend.    Lily alternated between the Ergo on my back and trying to chase the older girls.  My husband and I watched the waves crashing over a whale-shaped rock while the girls played on a log.  We followed the beach around a corner, stopping to peer into tide pools or climb over water-carved boulders, before following a trail away from the beach.

Our neighbour had told us about the waterfall, so as we followed a small stream into a narrowing crack in the cliffs, I was expecting something pretty.  The waterfall was still amazing—a sheet of misty water plunging from the mossy cliff above our heads to a pool below, then running down into the stream that we'd zigzagged across in our quest for the waterfall.

The men stuck their heads in the cold water while I watched the girls giggling.  Spray filled the air around us.  It was easy to see how the water had carved itself back further and further into the cliffs.

From there, we visited a natural cave, clambering over and under rocks until we were hiding under the cliffs in a clam-shaped area.  Loose rocks dotted the sandy floor while the beginnings of stalactites dripped from the ceiling.  I was curious about what the rest of the beach held, but tired children necessitated a hike back to our fire.  The promise of marshmallows kept the girls going, though our neighbour had to start the fire again when we returned.

As I lay in the tent that night, the smell of smoke in my hair and the taste of roasted marshmallows on my tongue, listening to the waves roar as they rolled in and out and in and out, it didn't matter that I'd have a lot of laundry and dishes to wash when we got home.  It didn't matter than raindrops were pattering against the tent now, or that our tent was on a slope so my sleeping bag kept sliding down.

The waterfall, the cave, the beach, the chance to hang out with my family and friends—that was all worth it.  And so as we left Sombrio Beach on Thursday morning, I said it was a successful first camping trip of the season, because we'll be back.

WIN a $100 Amazon Gift Card

Do you like books?  I do.  (You might have noticed that.)  I also like winning things.  I've entered quite a few contests hosted by fellow bloggers (and won some cool stuff, like books and granola bars, but no eReader yet).  So I'm happy to participate in this contest... for the chance to win a spending spree at Amazon!

If you're a blogger who'd also like to sign up for this giveaway, check out the post at Beautifully Bella Faith.  If you want to win the gift card, just keep an eye out here for the giveaway to start on May 30.

Book Review: As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur

One of the questions often asked of Christians (and by Christians) is this: "If God is so good, then why do bad things happen?"  Kay Arthur tackles that very big question (among others) in her book As Silver Refined: Learning to Embrace Life's Disappointments.

She opens the book with a beautiful description of a refiner smelting silver from ore.  First, he crushes the ore into small pieces; then, he places it in the hottest part of the fire and watches it.  And watches it.  And watches it.  This is a slow and delicate process, but finally, the refiner can see his own reflection in the silver in the fire.

Even as I read this story, I could see the analogy.  Brian Doerksen sings in a popular worship song, "Purify my heart.  Let me be as gold and precious silver."  Kay shows the many places in the Bible where God compares His people to silver which He is refining, such as Psalms 66:10 CEB ("But you, God, have tested us—you've refined us like silver") and Zechariah 13:9 CEB ("I will refine them like one refines silver; I will test them like one tests gold. They will call on my name, and I will respond to them").

Kay says, "Christianity doesn't exempt us from pain, from disappointment, from the hardships of this life.  Nor does it demand that we deny or hide our pain or our disappointments.  But it does give us One who promises a purpose, an end, and a benefit in it all."  Later, she adds, "God doesn't say the situation is good, but He does promise that because He's your God and you're His child, He will bring good from it."

In the pages of As Silver Refined, Kay walks us through the promises of Scriptures, showing how God uses every part of our lives for His glory—even those parts we look upon as failures or would prefer to avoid.  She uses examples from her own life and others who've faces struggles to illustrate how God can work through dark times to reach out to His hurting people.  Kay calls us as Christians to be living epistles—God's letter to the world around us, who doesn't know Him.  She says that "oftentimes He'll place you, His living epistle, in the same kind of fire, the same kind of disappointments and trials that so many others experience." 

As Silver Refined is an inspiring, thought-provoking book by one of today's best Bible scholars.  Kay shares her studies in God's word and how she's seen God at work in her own life and the lives of those around her.  The idea of God as a refiner is now quite common in Christian circles, but Kay delves deeper into that image and what it means.  I recommend this book to anyone feeling the heat of the Refiner's fire or walking with someone else who is being refined.


This book was provided for review by Blogging for Books.  All opinions expressed are my own.  This post contains associate links; if you click on the picture or title and buy the book from Amazon, I will earn a few cents.

Flowers for Friday

Last year, it seemed like the magnolias around our park went from buds to full-out flowers in a day.  This year, I was watching them and realized it took more like a week for the beautiful pink flowers to grow, fill out, and start dropping to the sidewalks below.  Here's the shortened condensed version of that week...

Writers-on-Wednesday: James Leslie Payne

Two years ago, in between working at Starbucks and moving from Alberta to Victoria, I had the pleasure of working with James Leslie Payne on his first novel.  I realized what a large task it is to edit an entire novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process.  A few weeks ago, I was delighted to hear from James that he had published that novel.  I took advantage of the opportunity to ask him a few questions about writing...

How did you become a writer?
I still don't have the courage to call myself a writer; I seem to be more a story teller. Writing it seems is the only way I can communicate it to others. I've read such beauty in language and thought that my writing seemed stiff and obtuse in comparison, so I can't yet say "I'm a writer," perhaps one day!

What inspires you to write?
I found out at 52 years of age that the man that I thought was my father was not at all. Then after months of searching I found that my biological father was a British mobster, involved in one of the most violent criminal gangs in England 's history—"The Krays." For cathartic reasons I wrote a paragraph, then a page, then a chapter and so on; somehow, The Clock came into being!

Who is your favourite author and why?
My favourite writer is Max Lucado; he is a writer in every sense but he's really a fabulous story teller. Max takes the simplest stories and turns them into lessons for life and then makes those lessons compelling and even fun to read. His books are full of short stories, which fit my short attention span. My favourite book by Lucado is Six hours One Friday.